All articles tagged with #healthcare policy
A bipartisan group of senators led by Jeanne Shaheen announced a deal to cap the price of insulin at $35 per month, including a pilot program in 10 states for the uninsured and changes to rebate programs for pharmacy benefit managers; the plan would be attached to other must-pass legislation, and still requires buy-in from Senate leadership and the president to move forward.
A federal judge in Oregon is set to grant Washington and 20 other states’ motion for summary judgment, blocking a Trump-era Health and Human Services directive that would pressure providers to stop treating transgender youth and threatened to exclude them from Medicaid/Medicare. The judge said the declaration exceeded statutory authority and bypassed required rulemaking, and, once formalized, the ruling would preserve access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth in the involved states.
One month after its launch, TrumpRx has only a small catalog of drugs (44 listed) despite lofty promises of broad discounts, with many items already available as generics and no clear usage data released. Private deals with drugmakers remain in flux, limiting impact on prices, while administration officials trumpet progress amid bipartisan scrutiny and questions about affordability gains for most patients.
Nearly 20 states are tightening eligibility for Ryan White HIV/AIDS Drug Assistance Programs as costs rise and federal support wanes, limiting access to HIV medications; Florida exemplifies the trend by cutting thousands off benefits and dropping Biktarvy from its formulary.
A YouGov poll of over 20,000 psychiatrists shows about 75% of UK women don’t know menopause can trigger a new mental illness, leading the Royal College of Psychiatrists to publish a position statement urging better awareness, training, and policy action. The report notes perimenopause doubles the risk of bipolar disorder and increases clinical depression risk, with associated misdiagnosis and anxiety; it also highlights gaps in care, calls for workforce and workplace support, NHS investment, and more research. Personal stories underscore diagnostic delays and the impact on women’s mental health.
The New York Times Upshot reports that physician assistants are seeking to rebrand themselves as “physician associates” and win broader clinical powers, a change gaining traction in states like Oregon, New Hampshire, and Maine. The PA workforce has grown dramatically since 2000, but the push to rename the role is contentious among physicians and professional groups. State regulations on supervision, collaboration, and prescribing rights remain varied, meaning the move is as much about professional identity as it is about real authority in practice.
In back-to-back House hearings, major health-insurance CEOs faced bipartisan grilling over rising premiums, prior-authorization rules, and claim denials, with lawmakers scrutinizing the role of PBMs and drug costs while insurers defend pricing as reflecting broader cost pressures in the system and subsidies remaining a political flashpoint.
Trump released a four-point framework aimed at lowering prescription prices and premiums, increasing price transparency, and redirecting subsidies to individuals' health savings accounts. The plan offers few specifics and would require Congress approval; analysts warn it could undermine ACA protections, raise uninsured rates, and faces Republican resistance over subsidies and other provisions.
Lawmakers from both parties are negotiating a broader health package tied to a government funding bill, aiming to renew expired ACA subsidies, but GOP opposition makes a clean subsidy extension unlikely. Separately, a Senate PBM overhaul appears to be gaining momentum, while abortion-funding audits and other divisive issues keep prospects for a deal uncertain—suggesting any agreement may not include subsidies.
The U.S. House is preparing to vote on a three-year extension of Obamacare subsidies, with bipartisan support expected, despite opposition from some Senate Republicans and a Republican health care bill that does not address the subsidies, risking their lapse at year's end.
As California prepares for federal Medicaid funding cuts and policy shifts, a new commission led by former health officials is developing a 10-year plan to sustain and improve Medi-Cal, which covers over 14 million low-income residents, amid concerns about access, costs, and program growth.
President Trump signed an executive order to expedite the rescheduling of marijuana to Schedule III, enhancing research on its medical uses, and to improve access to hemp-derived CBD products, aiming to inform patients and doctors while advancing healthcare policies and affordability.
The Trump administration proposed cutting federal health payments to hospitals that provide transition-related care to youths, sparking legal and political opposition, with critics arguing it threatens access to essential medical services for transgender minors, while supporters claim it addresses concerns about the safety of such treatments.
The Trump administration is set to announce new restrictions that effectively ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth across the U.S., including proposed rules that would cut Medicaid and Medicare funding for such treatments, coinciding with legislative efforts to criminalize and restrict gender-affirming care for minors. These measures could make access to gender-affirming care extremely difficult nationwide, especially in states where it is currently legal.
Republicans are developing a healthcare proposal to redirect Obamacare subsidies directly to individuals for use in health savings accounts, aiming to end the government shutdown, but this approach raises concerns about increased costs for those with pre-existing conditions and potential erosion of the ACA's protections and principles of risk pooling and solidarity.